Air India urination case: Supreme Court seeks DGCA response on plea by victim for rules to deal with passenger misconduct

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on a plea by the 72-year-old victim in the Air India urination case seeking directions to the DGCA and airline companies to frame regulations to deal with passenger misconduct on aircrafts. .A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud issued notice on the plea and directed that it be listed in the month of July. .The petitioner was represented by Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan.The petitioner stated that the DGCA failed to treat the petitioner with care and responsibility after an unruly passenger urinated on her following excessive alcohol consumption.The plea highlighted seven instances of passenger misconduct on board from 2014 to 2023, which were not dealt with properly by the concerned airline.The petition also highlighted that on March 4, 2023, a similar incident occurred when a passenger, in an inebriated state, urinated on an American Airlines flight from New York to New Delhi. The flight operator informed Air Traffic Control, which then alerted the Central Industrial Security Force, leading to the arrest of the individual upon disembarking..The petitioner therefore asked the Court to issued the following directions:1. Direct Centre and DGCA so that they ensure CAR norms adhere to the highest standards laid down internationally;2. Direct DGCA and airline companies to comply with legal requirements of SoPs by airline crew and staff during such incidents;3. Direct media to postpone reportage of the pending criminal case in relation to the incident presently..A fellow passenger who was in an inebriated state had urinated on the petitioner during an international flight on November 26, 2022. The incident was brought to light after the woman's letter to the Chairperson of the Tata Group made it to the media.The accused, Shankar Mishra, was arrested by the Delhi Police in Bengaluru on January 6, 2022. Wells Fargo, which was Mishra's employer, subsequently released a statement that the allegations against him were "deeply disturbing," leading to his dismissal from the job..In March, the Delhi High Court had directed the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to constitute an appellate committee within two weeks to hear Mishra's appeal against the order designating him as an ‘unruly passenger’ and banning him from flying for four months.